The Gift: A Father's Day Story
by Mairemor
Summary: Eric receives a very special gift that alters his world view.


The Gift : A Fathers Day Story

**WEEKLY ONE-SHOT CHALLENGE: WEEK #16 Complete **

**Theme: Drink and become one of us**

**A/N: **_This just came to me in one fell swoop as I was walking on a farm near our home this morning. I lost my dad, Bernie, a year ago and with Father's Day coming up this must have been on my heart. Now, I started this Sunday morning, many hours before I got to see foily haired monster Eric take down Royce in Fangtasia's basement! That's a part of his nature too. But in CH's books , we get to see Eric the man as well, and that's what really interests me in this story. This story is dedicated to my father, Bernie, and my darling hubby ,Patrick, the love of my life and the marvelous father of our nine wonderful children._

_As always CH's SVM characters aren't mine. The Northman girls, Adele and Kirsten, are part of a Trilogy I write. They are the supernatural children of Eric and Sookie. Kirsten's nature is more vampyric and Adele's is more Fae. Both are telepaths ,like their mother, and their gifts grow as they develop. _

_This is Adele and Eric's story._

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He was sleeping now, as he did every day. It was just the way that it was. And when he woke, she and Kirsten would rush to him and the house would thrum with the energy and excitement that only a father can give to a home. Summers were hardest for him and for them. June days in Louisiana were long and filled with swimming, horseback riding, picnics and day trips with friends. Father's Day was so close to the summer solstice that their time was always short. Daddy would go into work a little later. He almost never missed work, except on Yule when the great log burned in the fireplace and they exchanged gifts, and Lunasa when they visited the sacred grove where the goddess Hlin dwelt.

Adele loved the sunny days on their farm. There was always something to do and see. A calf would be born, there were kittens and chicks to play with, or they might ride down the trails on their ponies and have a picnic. Friends came over, and they'd swim in their pool while the mothers chatted.

But daddy could never share in this daytime activity. He had to rest, they understood. It was their life. When he rose, he would always cuddle them and ask about their day, he would play with them for a while or take them to a nightime activity, then he would have to leave. When he came back, he always checked on them . Kirsten slept like a log and never woke up, but she, Adele, always sensed his presence and woke. They would talk in Old Norse as they had always done when they were alone because daddy liked to hear the old words. Daddy would usually say something to make her giggle, then kiss them both upon the forehead, and tuck then in before going to his rest. Her daddy, Eric, loved his girls, just as her friends' daddies loved them.

There was so much of her world that she could not share with her human friends and there were differences between their family and the other supes. But for her that was just the way things were as she walked in three worlds: the human world, the world of earthbound supes, and the otherworld of the Fae. But right now, like every other child in America, what concerned Adele was the right gift for her dad.

Kirsten had already planned a gift for Dad. She'd given Mom her allowance money and had gotten him two tickets to see his favorite comedian, the one that they weren't allowed to listen to. It was a good gift and daddy would laugh when he opened it. As she rode her pony ,Hakka, Adele thought that Kirsten's gift would make him happy. But what could she give that would be special, that would show daddy how much she loved him? She looked across the field with its rows of green corn plants, to the horses grazing in the pasture with the red stable. She looked at the robin's egg blue sky with parades of drifting cumulus cloud. And she had her answer.

The magic would be difficult and she would need great-great grand papa's help to manage it. She focused very hard and called to Prince Niall knowing that he would come soon. She heard his voice in her mind almost immediately speaking in the Loraine dialect of the Brigant Fae.

" _My dearest! What can I do for you?"_

"_The humans have a special day for Fathers. It is coming up this weekend. I have a very special gift I'd like to give daddy, but I don't think that I can do it unless you help me…"_

She pictured her gift for her great-great grandfather and felt the warmth of his love touch her like an embrace.

" _It is like you, my dearest one, to think of others and put their needs before your own. You are like your mother in that! This power lies within you . I will show you how to open and use it and contain it. But sending this very special gift will make you very tired, even with my help. You will need to rest when we are through and you must promise me that you will . Do you still want to do this ?"_

She answered politely as mom had taught them, "_Oh, yes! Please!" _

The Prince was very careful to expand her abilities just enough to give the gift. The power she opened was connected to her deeply magical Fae core and once opened, it would be one more power she must learn to subdue and contain in order to walk unobserved in the human world. But the power would strengthen her as well, he knew, and draw her closer to Alfheim and the world of the Fae; the world that was her future.

Eric was old and powerful. Especially before rising and upon retiring for the night, his mind was alert while his body was still. He rarely dreamed in his deepest mid-day slumber. But today was different. Nothing like it had ever happened to him before. It was a vision; a waking dream.

Rising from his rest, he walked onto the wraparound porch of their old Victorian country home and for the first time in one thousand years witnessed the sunrise with serenity. First the birds began their chorus in the pearly grey twilight as a cool breeze fanned his face, then strand by rosy strand, the eastern horizon blossomed and the golden light poured across his face.

He'd paid no attention to his last dawn as a human. He had been so preoccupied with concerns for his children and upon making a good impression before his prospective in-laws. This time he drank in all of its glory.

The sun was fully up now and he looked across his fields and observed the light on each corn plant and heard again the daytime sounds of insects and birdsong. The sky was so impossibly blue. Never in his human life had he realized how many shades were in each cloud! He breathed in deeply for the first time in one thousand years, and all of the scents of his farm filled him. The sunlight's warmth upon his skin did not burn him as he plucked warm black berries, tasted their sweetness, and recalled gathering berries even as his children did.

He visited the stables and rode Brandr, his Bay stallion, through the hay field until they were chest high in sweetly scented meadow grass. His land blossomed and flourished in the sunny heat of a Louisiana afternoon as he observed it from Brandr's back taking in the comforting scents of warm leather and horse.

They rode toward the pond he'd stocked with trout, where he took the girls night fishing. Reigning in his horse, he gazed upon Kirsten and Sookie sitting in the sunlight enjoying a picnic, kissed by the sun, their hair gleaming with its radiance. But where was Del ? Surely she should be here too! A father's fear gripped him and he turned frantically scanning the grounds for her.

Then her found her, his Del, safe and a part of him. Her eyes were his, her breath was his, her day was his. For the first time since her birth, he smelled the sweet Fae scent that had been warded away for her own protection. He was sure that it was really Del when she spoke to him in Old Norse, her birth tongue,

"Grattis På Fars Dag, pappa! " Then added in her sweet southern accent, " I love you!"

When Eric awoke on Father's Day evening, Kirsten greeted him with a gift box containing the tickets. Her blue eyes, so much like his own, sparkled with joy when he hugged her and told he how much he loved her gift.

Sookie had gotten him a bottle of Royalty Select. She met his eyes, and love poured across their bond, "Del's having a little nap. Her Father's Day gift to you wore her out !"

Eric entered the room where his eight year old daughter lay sleeping, her long, platinum blond hair fanned out around her. She was physically petite, small boned, and delicate. Her beauty was that of a blush rose. But Eric knew that Del was the more magically powerful of his two daughters. Her eyes fluttered open, and they smiled at one another.

He had been a monster often in his long life. He had killed and tortured ; he had been ruthless and brutal when his life or the lives of those he protected depended upon it. And he would do and be all of these things again to protect this daughter and give her this time of joy if that is what it took to keep her whole, safe, and happy. He knew that Adele, even more than Kirsten would suffer as she came into her own and walked the tenuous path between three worlds and that it was his and Sookie's job to help her preserve the pure and joyous spirit that dwelt within her.

Her gift to him had been a day of her life, filled with all of the innocent wonders and joys of a happy childhood. He had experienced her joys, but his ancient mind had also perceived more than the gift intended. Her burdens were so heavy! Every day she fought to contain and control the powerful magical core of her nature and walk in the human world undetected. He sensed that the gift that she had given him in love had opened up more of this power and that her efforts to control it would have to increase as well.

Adele's gift was given with the innocence and sincerity of a magical, unique child and its profundity broke and filled his soul. He had drunk in her life as he had drunk in the sunlight, and for this special day they had become one in spirit.


End file.
